The city Finance Committee voted Monday to explore a payment in lieu of taxes by Aurora Health Care for its proposed new facility for the Field of Dreams.

Aurora Health Care is expected to pay as much as $300,000 annually in taxes on the planned outpatient surgical center. While Aurora is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, it can still be taxed on buildings such as the medical offices planned for the space.

However, Ald. Jim Bohren and Joe Heidemann wanted the city to negotiate with Aurora for more payments. Bohren told the committee that it “behooves” the committee to seek more payment out of “the Auroras of the world.” The discussion came a few days after the Milwaukee Business Journal reported Aurora had $503 million in operating income for 2014, up from $157 million in 2013.

“I don’t think its going to be any type of hardship if we bring forward as a community to have them pay for additional services that we’re providing,” Heidemann said.

Ald. Mary Lynne Donohue asked for an amendment to the resolution to strip language relating to the consumer price index, saying that it didn’t take into account the “complexities” of negotiations with Aurora and might limit the city’s flexibility in negotiations.

While the committee voted to give initial approval to the amended resolution, its not clear how the city might approach similar non-profits seeking to build.

Donohue dismissed that idea of asking for payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, from every non-profit building in the city, saying that while Aurora is easy because it has “deep pockets” that approach could have killed other non-profits who simply don’t have the funds to pay.

Donohue pointed to the Salvation Army, asking whether they would have been able to build their Pennsylvania Avenue location if the city had demanded a PILOT.

“Those folks live from breadloaf to breadloaf and that would have been the end of it,” Donohue said.

That prompted Bohren to say that PILOTs should possibly be targeted only at non-profits “going into commercial ventures.”

The resolution requires Common Council approval before it can take effect. While the resolution hinted at including the PILOT as part of the conditional use permit required for the Field of Dreams plan to go forward, City Planning and Development Director Chad Pelishek said the agreement would likely have to be negotiated separately

In other action, the committee met in closed session with the Armory Foundation to discuss their proposal to lease the Armory space for three years before purchasing it. The group came with a spreadsheet detailing revenue estimates for its first six months of operation and two letters of support.

While the committee took no action on the proposal and held the matter until June, organizers emerged from closed session saying at least one city official said their plan wasn’t viable.

There are, as of yet, no other groups who have made an offer to buy the Armory building ever since Sailing Education Association of Sheboygan decided to halt its purchase and planned demolition of the building.